


sit down, relax, and let me help you unwind

by RJ_Hastings



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 13:18:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2069712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RJ_Hastings/pseuds/RJ_Hastings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing is, Ryan isn’t so sure he minds that the, admittedly, attractive musician, that had been a proxy source of the headache that had previously been edging at the back of his mind the past hour, was all but serenading him with the <i>sexiest</i> rendition of a Depeche Mode song ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sit down, relax, and let me help you unwind

**Author's Note:**

> freewood prompt/band au??: gavin is a small time lead singer just trying to scrape by so when he performs at an american bar, he thinks he’s hit it big time. theres girls lining up for the cute guy with the accent to drop by so they can buy him a drink, meanwhile ryan is having a tough night out with geoff, trying to drown out the squealing girls by the bar. its not until he hears a smooth foreign voice purr into the mic "this one goes out to the sandy blonde with the tall bev"  
> -  
> this prompt was orginally sent to allitlebitgayandmore (on tumblr), but I'd been itching to write something, so I asked if I could also write it. They kindly said yes, so here it is. 
> 
> This fic can also be found on my tumblr therearenohooksinme. Just click on the "my writing" link.

“Oh my god, he is so hot!” Ryan hears a girl exclaim and he barely resists thunking his head down on the tabletop in front of him. He’d let Geoff drag him into Griffon’s bar under the pretense of letting loose after a long week of work, not to listen to the, almost, piercing shrieks of the students from the nearby college, but here he was.

“Why did you bring me here?” Ryan asks, voice muffled slightly by his arm as he buries his face into the fabric of his shirt sleeve in an effort to keep any biting words for the screeching crowd that filled up his best friend’s wife’s bar. It seemed like no one in the establishment could keep their voices down. Ryan had no idea why. Griffon had had live entertainment play in her bar before, but no band or artist had managed to gather such a large, or enthusiastic, crowd. At least, not until now.

As they came in Ryan immediately clued in that he and Geoff had arrived in the middle of a song. A large crowd had gathered around the elevated platform that served as a stage and Ryan’s gaze had flicked between it and the empty table he and Geoff were making a beeline for.

They’d grabbed a table, ordered drinks and had been set to unwind when the band (Ryan assumed it was a band) had finished playing and the uproar began.

A little later, when the crowd began to die down, the band launched into another song and Ryan had thanked every deity ever that the crowd remained hushed. It didn’t stop him from thinking he was going to throw his glass if the cheering started up again.

-

“Aw c’mon, it’s not so bad. You telling me you don’t get this on campus?” Geoff grins as Ryan groans.

“Just because I teach people who are college aged doesn’t mean I can tolerate them when I’m off the clock.” Ryan replies and Geoff’s shit eating grin fades a bit.

“Exam season is really biting you in the ass ain’t it?” Geoff asks as he takes a swig from his beer and Ryan merely blinks at him before giving Geoff his patented left eyebrow raise.

“I’m the department head so I have to set an example not only for my students, but for the other professors as well. And that doesn’t even cover marking.” Ryan offers in lieu of a direct answer and Geoff’s face draws in sympathy.

“I’ll ask Griffon to keep the tap running then. You’re gonna fucking need it.” Instead of a verbal reply Ryan just picks up his drink and makes a vague toasting motion before downing whatever dregs were left in his glass.

“Top you up?” A voice asks to his left and Ryan turns to see a redheaded young woman with a sunny smile curving her lips. Ryan suppresses a relieved sigh.

“Gods yes.” Ryan says emphatically and Lindsay grins even harder at him. She takes his empty glass and sets it on her tray before looking to Geoff who's snickering, clearly unrepentant.

“Gotcha. Oh hey Geoff, I heard your comment about Griffon letting the taps run. Want me to let her know?”

“I’d be much obliged if you did.” Geoff says with laughter still evident in his voice. But Ryan sees a fond smile curl his lips as she sketches a two fingered salute before making a graceful turn in the direction of the bar where Griffon is no doubt tending. Ryan hadn’t seen her when he got in, but he knew she was about somewhere. Griffon was a very hands on woman. He could see why Geoff was so head over heels for her.

“So Professor Haywood, any other grievances you’d like to air out?” Geoff asks when Lindsay is gone and Ryan folds his hands together as he thinks.

“Nothing in particular, no. I will say this, though. I want to get as inebriated as possible before I have to be back in my office surrounded by stacks of essays that may or may not make sense.” Geoff laughs loudly at that, his knuckles becoming pale as he squeezes the neck of his bottle of beer, grip tightening so he doesn’t drop it.

“Allow me to help you with that.”

When Ryan hears the crowd start up again he thinks that Lindsay can’t get back with his drink fast enough.

\---

**Half an hour earlier...**

“Um, could you pass me that extension cord?” Gavin asks and Griffon, previously engaged with something on her phone, straightens her posture on her stool and looks at Gavin.

“Sure.” She says before getting up and Gavin barely has any time to react when the cord he asked for gets lobbed at him. He catches it, fumbles with it, but ultimately gets ahold of it and sets to plugging it in to where he needs it to be.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

If anyone had told Gavin when he’d first started playing that he’d be performing in an American bar instead of busking on the streets he would have clubbed that person over the head with his guitar. And then promptly panic because he needed his guitar to play in the first place. But here he was in Austin, Texas, in a well known bar, setting up for a show.

He owed his situation partly to Dan who had convinced him to make the trip across the pond and partly, if not mostly, to the lovely,  _lovely_ woman who had asked him to play in her bar. He recalls the conversation with extreme fondness as he plugs in his amp.

_“Hey kid.” As the song winds down Gavin looks up to see a woman a few feet in front of him. She was wearing worn boots, scuffed jeans, and a black tank top that looked like it had sawdust on its hem. Her look was completed by the countless tattoos Gavin saw winding up and down her arms and shoulders._

_“Yeah?” Gavin asks and the woman grins at him, her teeth glinting along with her septum piercing in the setting sun._

_“You ever think of playing indoors?”_

_“What?” Gavin nearly jumps out of his skin at the question._

_“Y’know. Indoors, maybe in front of a large audience?” She elaborates and Gavin licks his lips._

_“Are you offering me a gig?” Rather than say anything, the woman grins at him again. A few seconds pass._

_“Well,” Gavin begins, “if you’re offering, I’ll take it.”_

_“Great. I’m Griffon by the way.” Gavin smiles._

_“Gavin.”_

“You all set up?” Gavin hears Griffon ask and Gavin nods. The grateful thoughts and subsequent extolling of said gratefulness would have to come later.

“Just about.” He can’t hold back a smile when she smiles at him.

“Okay. You need anything you’ll let me know, right?”

“Definitely.”

He’d come a long way from trawling pubs for gigs and busking on street corners. Gavin was sure he’d be heard tonight. He wouldn’t let this chance go to waste.

-

**Now…**

It’s exhilarating, Gavin thinks, performing in front of a crowd in a reputable establishment. It’d been exciting playing on the streets, but nothing trumped busking more than an actual gig.

The lights had taken some getting used to, but once he’d started playing, once he’d finally started singing, his worries had ebbed away until all he was focused on was the atmosphere, the energy that seemed to ripple from patron to patron. It was electrifying and humbling all at once.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Gavin asks, resisting the urge to lament the cliche question. He has no time to do so when the entire bar erupts into raucous applause. Everyone aside from two patrons in the back, one with a particularly impressive moustache, the other with sandy hair that Gavin finds himself really wanting to run his hands through.

_'Stay focused on the crowd, Gav. You can talk to the attractive man later.'_

“Sounds to me like you’re all feelin’ top. Excellent!” A section of the crowd ‘woos’ and Gavin laughs into the mic. “God, you sure know how to make a bloke feel welcome.” Gavin says as he strums his guitar aimlessly.  

“Now are there any requests?”

The crowd is silent for a moment and then,

“Wonderwall!” Someone shouts jokingly and Gavin snickers. When he checks the back he sees that the man with the moustache is smiling, but the man whose attention he’s after is busy with his drink.

“Well that’s one… Anyone else?” The crowd is hushed save for a few murmurs. A few moments go by.

“Well then,” Gavin says undeterred, “how about this?” He shifts on his stool and trains his gaze on the sandy haired man. He adjusts his fingers so he can reach the right frets and then, into the mic, softly, but with purpose, “For the poor haggard man in the back who looks like he really needs to unwind... this is for you.”

To Gavin's utter joy, the man looks up somehow knowing that Gavin was talking about him and meets Gavin's gaze. Unable to help himself, Gavin flashes the man a sly smile.

And then he starts to play.  

-

Ryan hadn’t expected the accent when the entertainment for the night, a single performer Ryan had found out, spoke into the mic. He hadn't heard any trace of it while he'd been singing so it threw Ryan through a loop when he heard it. As the man spoke, Ryan was given enough time to regroup; the musician’s voice no longer surprising, but rather, soothing and pleasant. He also had ample time to just revel in the fact that the crowd was quiet. Thank god for small mercies.

While he didn’t appreciate the crowd the man had gathered, Ryan did appreciate the hush the man could call upon the patrons when he spoke. His voice, low and sweet commanded the crowd into silence as he asked for requests. He heard people muttering, talking amongst themselves about what to request, but no one said a word.

“Well then, how about this?

“For the poor haggard man in the back who looks like he really needs to unwind... this is for you.” He hears Geoff snicker to his right, but Ryan can’t pay the man any mind. He’s too transfixed by the stare the young musician gives him as he adjusts his posture; too captured by the slow curve of his lips, his smile undeniably sly enough that Ryan feels a flush creeping up to his cheeks. He watches as long, nimble fingers pluck at guitar strings, playing a vaguely familiar tune and then he starts to sing.

_“Slow, slow_

_Slow as you can go_

_So I can feel all I want to know_

_Slow, slow_

_I go with your flow…”_

“Fuck me.” Ryan gulps, his eyes squeezing shut and Geoff guffaws.

“Oh dude, you’ve got it bad.” Geoff says and this time Ryan gives in and lets his head hit the table, not caring for the sharp sting of pain he feels afterwards.

“Fucking fuck.” He hisses, half in pain, half in lamentation for the fact that his night out has become as far removed from relaxing as possible.

The thing is, Ryan isn’t so sure he minds that the, admittedly, attractive musician, that had been a proxy source of the headache that had previously been edging at the back of his mind the past hour, was all but serenading him with the  _sexiest_  rendition of a Depeche Mode song ever. 

"You gonna talk to him after this?" Ryan hears Geoff ask and he barely stops himself from shaking his head.

"I don't know." Ryan says instead, completely honest.

"You're a piece of work, Haywood. Christ. Worse than Michael when he first met Lindsay."

"Not helping." Ryan grumbles but Geoff isn't offended.  

"I brought you here to help you relax and if getting laid does that then all the better."

"Geoff, please."

"'Please', what?"

"Please stop."

"Nope."

"Fuck."

Above the the guitar and singing Ryan hears Geoff laugh.

-

As soon as Gavin strums out the final chord and his voice fades, the bar erupts into applause. Resisting the urge to just sit back and soak in the praise, he sets down his guitar and then looks to the back of the room where, to his joy, the man he’d locked eyes with is looking at him.

Suppressing a triumphant grin, he lets his guitar rest against his stool and leans towards his mic.

“As much as it pains me to say this, folks, I’m afraid that I’m done for the night.” He announces and he lets himself smile when the crowd groans.

“I know, I know, but you lot were fantastic. Made me feel right at home up here, so thanks for that. How about you give yourselves a round of applause, hm?” As he leans back to clap for the audience, he watches the man at the back and sees him and his friend bring their hands up to clap. His lips twitch, but again, he resists grinning.

“Thanks again, everyone. I hope you all have a good rest of your night!” 

The audience cheers and Gavin lets himself take it all in.

Then, as the applause starts to die down, he gets up off of his stool and sets to packing up.

-

“You gonna go up to him, or are you gonna let him come to you?”

“Huh?” Ryan asks as he turns away from the stage, mentally shaking himself to clear his thoughts of the image of the musician’s stare. It doesn’t work.

Geoff sighs.

“You’ve obviously got the hots for the dude, so you’re either gonna go up to him yourself, or you’re gonna stay here so he comes to you.” He elaborates and Ryan frowns.

“Neither. He’s attractive, sure, but there’s no way he thinks the same of me. People like him don’t go for stuffy old professors.” Geoff says nothing to that. Instead he flashes Ryan a shit eating grin.

“Geoff?” The man in question just shakes his head, grin still in place. Ryan’s eyes narrow in confusion when Geoff brings his head back up, but instead of looking at Ryan, he trains his gaze at something behind Ryan.

So Ryan turns around.

And finds the musician stood a few feet away from his and Geoff’s table.

“Professor, huh? Not what I thought you were, but I can see it.”

“Uhhh…” Ryan offers his intelligent response and somewhere in the background Geoff lets out his signature laugh.

“I’m gonna go find Griffon, see if I can’t score some free liquor. You two have fun, hm?” Geoff says before he gets up. He pats Ryan twice on the shoulder and, to Ryan’s sheer mortification, sends a wink to the musician before he leaves.

“Your friend seems nice.” The musician says and Ryan swallows. Hard.

“Y-yeah, no. He’s actually kind of a prick. His wife’s the nice one.” Ryan says and he tries to resist the urge to smack himself in the face.

Talking to someone one on one shouldn’t be so difficult; Ryan’s profession meant that he had to speak in front of dozens, sometimes hundreds of people. So he couldn’t understand why he was so nervous.

Thankfully, though Ryan is positive the musician notices his nerves, the younger man doesn’t make any note of it. Instead he moves closer to Ryan. And when he asks to sit down in Geoff’s vacated seat, Ryan let’s him.

“His wife’s the nice one?” The musician asks with a little smirk and Ryan breathes out a “yes.”

“Is his wife the owner of this bar?”

“Y-yeah.” Ryan answers slowly, the question throwing him a tad off guard.

“Hm, then I can see why you say she’s the nice one. She’s the reason I got this gig after all. ‘S my first one too. I’m bloody grateful.” The musician explains and Ryan nods in understanding while trying to mask his surprise.

“Really? Your first gig? You seem like the type to have a lot of gigs.” Ryan says with candor and the musician smiles at him; a small, shy curve of the lips that screams humility.

Damn.

“Yes really. I was busking on the streets practically since I came to America when, one day, this terrifyingly beautiful woman comes up to me and asks if I’ve ever played indoors. That was over an hour ago.” The musician admits and Ryan stares at him in surprise.

“Wow.” Ryan lets out before he can stop himself and he gets a grin from the musician in response.

“Yeah…”

Ryan watches, strangely enrapt when the musician taps his fingers on the table. No discernable beat, just a random pattern of sound that makes Ryan smile.

“Oh!” Ryan looks up at the sudden exclamation.

“Hm?”

The musician sticks his hand out.

“I’m Gavin, by the way. Gavin Free.” Ryan’s already clasped and shaking hands with the younger man when it sinks in.

Oh.

 _‘He’s just given you his name! Introduce yourself back, you idiot!’_ His brain shouts at him and when Ryan lets go of the musician’s- of  _Gavin’s_  hand, he quickly tries to return the favour.

“Ryan Haywood.” Ryan says a bit breathlessly, but Gavin just smiles at him.

“So that’s Professor Haywood when you’re working then?” Gavin asks and Ryan blinks a few times before he inclines his head in affirmation.

“Yeah, but-”

“But it’s just Ryan outside of the classroom, yeah?” Too tongue tied to speak, Ryan just nods.

“Well then,  _Ryan_ , would you be opposed to seeing me at a later date? Say, for coffee or lunch?”

Ryan grins.

“I think that would be great. How’s tomorrow at one at the sandwich shop across the street?”

Gavin grins back.

“That sounds absolutely top.”

After an exchange of numbers, Gavin inputs Ryan’s name in his contacts as ‘Professor <3’ much to Ryan’s embarrassment, the two of them get ready to head their separate ways.

“See you tomorrow?” Ryan asks. He can’t keep the smile off his face and he knows Geoff will make fun of him for this later because he knows Geoff is watching somewhere, but he doesn’t care.

“Absolutely. Bye for now, Ryan.” Gavin replies and then he’s pressing his lips to Ryan’s cheek before he strides off, presumably to finish putting away his equipment.

Ryan barely succeeds in suppressing a lovestruck sigh. 

“How’d it go loverboy?” Ryan hears someone ask and he turns to see Geoff and Griffon together, their arms linked. Griffon’s face is flushed with pride for a night of entertainment well done while Geoff is just flushed with alcohol. They make a good picture, though.

“It went well. I’ve got a lunch date tomorrow.” Ryan says with a smile, but it fades when Geoff frowns at him.

“Don’t you have marking to do tomorrow?” He asks, words laden with inebriation and confusion.

“Aw fuck, I do.” Geoff doubles over in laughter at that. The fucker.

“Did you get Gavin’s number?” Griffon asks and Ryan nods. “Then just text or call him to explain. He’s a nice guy, he’ll understand.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, good idea.”

Patting his pockets in search of his phone, in his excitement, Ryan nearly drops it as he tries to pull it out of a pocket in his jeans.

_Ryan > Gavin: just remembered I have marking to do tomorrow. Would it be all right to reschedule?_

Minutes go by, and Ryan is just about to put his phone away when it buzzes.

_Gavin > Ryan: ! its fine. I can just pick us up something to eat and we can have lunch in your office_

“I am so fucked.” Ryan mutters to himself.

“What’s wrong?” Griffon asks as she takes a step towards him. She lets go of Geoff who moves to take seat where he’d been sat before.

“I asked if we could reschedule and he said he could pick up lunch for us so we could eat in my office.”

“Fucking take it, Haywood!” Geoff lets out and Ryan looks over to him. “He’s clearly likes you as much as you like him, so take it! You can go on a proper lunch date another time.”

“Right.” Focusing back on his phone, he types out a reply to Gavin, looks it over once, twice, and then sends it.

_Ryan > Gavin: Okay. My office is on the second floor of the Reistman building, room 205. When you pick up lunch, get me a BLT and a diet coke and then text me before you head over. Sound good?_

Not even a minute goes by when Ryan gets a reply.

_Gavin > Ryan: rm 205, BLT and a diet coke. got it. C u_

Ryan smiles down at his phone screen. He hears Geoff laugh again, but he pays his friend no mind.

_Ryan > Gavin: See you_

-

END


End file.
